This volume honors the professional life of Jacques Berleur. He is known for his extensive work within the IFIP community to expose the nature of the ethical dilemmas of a society increasingly reliant on complex ICT infrastructures, to raise awareness of the social challenges this poses, and to influence action compatible with the ethical values of western democracy.
Democratic Innovations in Central and Eastern Europe expands research on democratic innovations by looking specifically at different forms of democratic innovations in Central and Eastern Europe. The book covers direct democracy (referendums in particular), deliberative democracy practices and e-participation – forms which are salient in practice because they match the political realities of our time. Expert contributors show how the recent actions of ordinary citizens in several Central and Eastern European countries have challenged the contemporary political order, and grassroots movements and diverse forms of mobilization have challenged the notion of weak civil societies in the East. The empirical evidence presented attempts to deepen citizen involvement in political contexts sometimes quite different from the democratic political systems in the Western world. Using lessons from a still largely underexplored part of Europe, the book both complements and revises theoretical approaches, or complements empirical results in existing studies on democratic innovations. Democratic Innovations in Central and Eastern Europe will be of great interest to scholars working on democracy, political systems, political engagement, and Central and Eastern European politics. The chapters originally published as a special issue of Contemporary Politics.
Responsible Innovation encourages innovators to work together with stakeholders during the research and innovation process, to better align the outcomes of innovation with the values, needs and expectations of society. Assessing the benefits and costs of Responsible Innovation is crucial for furthering the responsible conduct of science, technology and innovation. However, there is until now only limited academic work on Responsible Innovation assessment. This book fills this lacuna. Assessment of Responsible Innovation: Methods and Practices presents tools for measuring, monitoring, and reporting upon the Responsible Innovation process and the social, environmental, scientific, and economic impacts of innovations. These tools help innovators to mitigate risk and to strengthen their strategic planning. This book aligns assessment tools and practices with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The prospects as well as the limitations of various Responsible Innovation assessment approaches and tools are discussed, as well as their applicability in various industry contexts. The book brings together leading scholars in the field to present the most comprehensive review of Responsible Innovation tools. It articulates the importance of assessment and value creation, the different metrics and monitoring systems that can be deployed and the reporting mechanisms, including the importance of effective communication. This book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license at https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9780429298998
Increasingly, technology, the Internet and social media are playing a major part in our lives. What should we think about the ethical issues that arise, such as the changing role of intelligent machines in this Information Age? The impact of technology upon society is a perennial question, but the power of computing and artificial intelligence has ratcheted up the ethical implications of this relationship. It merits careful consideration. Ethics in the AI, Technology, and Information Age brings together a cohort of international scholars to explore the ethical ramifications of the latest technologies and their effects on our lives. This it does in three parts: (1) theoretical considerations, (2) practical applications, and (3) challenges. Beginning with theoretical essays, the book investigates the relationship between technology and nature, the limits of being “human” versus “machine,” and the moral implications of artificial intelligence. The book then examines key questions; such as ownership of technology, artificial intelligence’s replacement of human jobs and functions, privacy and cybersecurity, the ethics of self-driving cars, and the problematic aspects of drone warfare. With an appendix of films and documentaries to inspire further discussion on these topics, students and scholars will find Ethics in the AI, Technology, and Information Age an essential and engaging resource both in the classroom and in their daily technology-filled lives.
This book provides a wide and deep perspective on the ethical issues raised by pervasive information and communication technology (PICT) – small, powerful, and often inexpensive Internet-connected computing devices and systems. It describes complex and unfamiliar technologies and their implications, including the transformative potential of augmented reality, the power of location-linked information, and the uses of “big data,” and explains potential threats, including privacy invaded, security violated, and independence compromised, often through widespread and lucrative manipulation. PICT is changing how we live, providing entertainment, useful tools, and life-saving systems. But the very smartphones that connect us to each other and to unlimited knowledge also provide a stream of data to systems that can be used for targeted advertising or police surveillance. Paradoxically, PICT expands our personal horizons while weaving a web that may ensnare whole communities. Chapters describe particular cases of PICT gone wrong, but also highlight its general utility. Every chapter includes ethical analysis and guidance, both specific and general. Topics are as focused as the Stuxnet worm and as broad as the innumerable ways new technologies are transforming medical care. Written for a broad audience and suitable for classes in emerging technologies, the book is an example of anticipatory ethics – “ethical analysis aimed at influencing the development of new technologies” (Deborah Johnson 2010). The growth of PICT is outpacing the development of regulations and laws to protect individuals, organizations, and nations from unintended harm and malicious havoc. This book alerts users to some of the hazards of PICT; encourages designers, developers, and merchants of PICT to take seriously their ethical responsibilities – if only to “do no harm” – before their products go public; and introduces citizens and policy makers to challenges and opportunities that must not be ignored.
Professeur, chercheur, directeur de centre, doyen et recteur, Yves Poullet s’est illustré dans toutes les étapes et fonctions d’une carrière universitaire bien remplie, marquant des générations d’étudiants, de chercheurs, de collègues et de pairs. Spécialiste éminent et incontournable du droit de l’internet et des technologies de l’information et de la communication, il en est aussi l'un des précurseurs en fondant dès 1979 un des premiers centres de recherche européens en la matière. Par cet ouvrage, collègues, amis, anciens doctorants rendent hommage à l’une des plus belles plumes de la discipline, en lui offrant leurs réflexions sur l’influence réciproque du droit et de la technologie. Leurs contributions démontrent l’étendue de l’expertise et des réseaux européens et internationaux d’Yves Poullet. Elles s’articulent autour de trois axes qui furent autant de perspectives dans lesquelles il a inscrit sa recherche : le droit, les normes et les libertés. La richesse de ce volume témoigne de son attention à l’humain, des amitiés qu’il a nouées, mais aussi des sillons qu’il a tracés en droit des technologies de l’information et de la communication, sillons dans lesquels a poussé une forêt luxuriante, toujours fertile. C’est l’héritage d’un grand penseur, d’un véritable universitaire. =========== Yves Poullet has not merely served but excelled in all functions of the University world. Whether as professor, researcher, director of a research centre or as dean and rector, he has left a lasting impression in the minds of generations of students, researchers, colleagues and peers. He is a preeminent expert on the law of Internet and Information and Communications Technologies who, already in 1979, pioneered one of the first European research centres in the field. This volume is a tribute to Yves Poullet from colleagues, friends, former PhD researchers, offering their reflections on the reciprocal influence of law and technology. These contributions highlight both the range of expertise and the extent of the European and international networks he has nourished. They address the three main research axes Yves Poullet has developed through the years: law, norms and freedoms. The authors of this volume pay homage to a mentor, a friend, but above all to an exceptional researcher who has sown countless seeds in the field, enabling a luxurious landscape to grow and become a source of inspiration for many scholars. This is the heritage of a genuine thinker, a real academic.
In light of the potential novel applications of neurotechnologies in psychiatry and the current debate on moral bioenhancement, this book outlines the reasons why more conceptual work is needed to inform the scientific and medical community, and society at large, about the implications of moral bioenhancement before a possible, highly hypothetical at this point, broad acceptance, and potential implementation in areas such as psychiatry (e.g., treatment of psychopathy), or as a measure to prevent crime in society. The author does not negate the possibility of altering or manipulating moral behavior through technological means. Rather he argues that the scope of interventions is limited because the various options available to “enhance morality” improve, or simply manipulate, some elements of moral behavior and not the moral agent per se in the various elements constitutive of moral agency. The concept of Identity Integrity is suggested as a potential framework for a responsible use of neurotechnologies in psychiatry to avoid human beings becoming orderers and orderables of technological manipulations.
Recently, the priorities of higher education have adjusted; where before the focus was primarily on the financial side of education, institutions now consider people to be their main source of value and education to be much more than the production and dissemination of knowledge. Due to this, a gap has been created between decades of emphasis on financing and the undermining of the qualitative requirements of education. New Perspectives on Using Accreditation to Improve Higher Education outlines key issues that must be addressed if accreditation agencies globally are to achieve their primary objective of ensuring that universities and the degree programs they offer are of even greater quality than they are at present. Covering topics such as leadership, assessment, and sustainability, this reference work is ideal for principals, policymakers, higher education staff, researchers, scholars, academicians, practitioners, instructors, and students.
